the World when the Matter of Fact is so very recent and known to all the Inhabitants at Edenburgh and the Leading Presbyterians are very loth to part with the honor of this Atchievement so agreeable to their constant Genius and former Practises for one of their chief Advocates pleaded lately before the Judges in the Tryal of Mr. Wallace that they that Pillaged the Kings House were a Company of Grave Reasonable Thinking Men Commanded by a Lord of the Sessions We see then by this one single Instance the Spirit of Lies and Vanity that runs through his Book For if it be undenyable that this Rabble Reformation was concerted by the Ringleaders of the Faction Then he must own that the Tumults were not the accidental Essorts of some angry inconsiderable People but the united endeavours of the Presbyterians And indeed this Essay at Edenburgh was but the Preface to other marks of the Kindness they intended the Clergy in that place if their violence had not been happily prevented by the Generous Resolution of that Learned and Illustrious Society of the College of Justice and it is very probable that the Vindicator wrote down this Story carlesly and hand over head For if he had advised with his Friends at Edenburgh George Stirling the Apothecary and Mr. Menzies in the Locken buiths they could not be so self-denyed as to be willingly deprived of the honour they had in managing and contriving this Tumult It was a disparagement to their Zeal and Activity to be robbed of the Glory they acquired in this Enterprise I cannot but acknowledge that it is highly indecent to name particular Men but what shall we say when we have to do with such Wasps and Hornets you see then by the Reflections I have made of this General Topick what the Superstructure must be The next thing under which he endeavours to cover himself and his Party is his fancy of an Interregnum He tells us gravely in many places of his Book that what was done against the Clergy was done in an Interregnum and that the People were highly provoked by the Clergy that they were instrumental in the Sufferings of the Non-Conformists That the Clergy themselves were but profligate and debauched and that they are generally such as are unacquainted with the operation of the Spirit of God upon their Hearts and if this does not excuse yet it extenuates what those zealous Patriots did at that time to advance the Glorious Reformation I cannot but take notice in the first place of his wild imagination of an Interregnum which cannot properly fall out in an Hereditary Monarchy for the King never dies For Though the Laws were not put in Execution in that Interval of Confusion and uncertainty yet they retained their Legal Force and Authority The Government was indeed in a Convulsive Motion so that it could not perform the ordinary Functions of Order and Justice but does he think that because humane Laws were in that Interval hindred that therefore the Godly and Zealous Presbyterians were loosed from the Obligations of the Laws of Nature and Religion Is there no security against the violent hands of those Saints but the coercive power of Laws How can they pretend to be better Christians than the rest of their Neighbours when they venture upon the most unchristian Practices Which puts me in mind of the Character that Cornelius Tacitus gives of the Jews They were kind and affectionate to their own Kindred but they retained adversus omnes alios hostile odium Juvenal gives the same Character of them but it is much more agreeable to the Presbyterians Does he think that the Notion of an Interregnum can justifie what modest Men are ashamed to own And is it for the honour of his Party that he should proclaim to the World that they stand not in awe of the Divine Laws unless they are restrained by the terrour of Humane Laws Why do they pretend to be acquainted with the Gospel when they openly and jointly contomn its most essential Precepts But he says the People were much injured and provoked by the Clergy What the Clergy in the West of Scotland did I know not if I make an estimate of their proceedings against Non-Conformists from the practice of our Clergy-Men in other parts of the Nation I declare sincerely to you I never knew one of them that prosecuted the Dissenters without great reluctancy nay I knew many of them that interposed with sincere kindness and vigor for their Parishioners frequently and with success too when they were obnoxious to the Laws But let us suppose that the Clergy did prosecute the Dissenters according to Law they did nothing in this but what they were obliged to do the Peace of the Nation was indangered the Legal and Lineal Monarchy was undermined and the Government by such frequent shakings most likely to relapse into its former state of Civil War and Confusion and the souls of the People committed to their Care were poysoned with dark and Enthusiastick Principles Speaking evil of Dignities took place of the Ten Commandments and a Schism unreasonable in its beginnings and disowned by all Protestant Churches and the learnedest Presbyterians was propagated in all corners of the Nation with all vigor and diligence and ought the Clergy to look on and continue idle Spectators when the Peace and Safety of their Country Spiritual and Temporal was so daringly and factiously invaded Were they not obliged by the Laws of God and Man to stop this Career of Insolence and Villany and though they ought to undeceive the poor deluded People by all the soft Methods of tenderness and meekness yet the Boutefeu's and Incendiaries were to be chastised and lashed with greater severities and our Governours did nothing then but what they ought to have done in their own defence unless they had resolved to Sacrifice the Fundamental Constitution of the Monarchy and their own Honours Dignities and Estates unto the Caprice and Ambition of some bigotted Covenanters But I would ask the Vindicator whether they of the Clergy that never prosecuted any of the Dissenters were the more kindly treated upon this last Revolution I know severals of them who have been most spitefully used by the Presbyterians though formerly they did them all the good Offices that lay in their power The Clergy as well as the Laity were obliged by the Laws of the Land and by the Fundamental Laws of Humane Society to crush and extirpate the beginnings of Rebellion and the attempts of such as preached the most pernicious Principles until at last the Rebels justified in their Books and Sermons open and avowed Murthers And that by the most natural Consequences from their own Principles when the wickedness of the Party appeared thus terrible to the Peace of the Nation was it to be expected that our Governours should look on and suffer their own Throats to be cut their Families to be forfeited their King to be dethroned their
Church Polity to be pulled down and the entire Scheme of their Government to be defaced And all this for no other Reason and upon no wiser Consideration than because their Enemies pretended Religion and gave most sacred Names to the most abominable Crimes And now again that they are uppermost they are very angry that men do not shut their Eyes and suffer their Follies and Tyranny to overspread the Nation without Contradiction But what was it that their Ministers did suffer upon the Restitution of King Charles the Second Why they would not take Presentations from the Patron nor Collation from the Bishop they would possess their Benefices against the Law and in defiance of Authority but was any of them turned out that did comply with the Law So earnest were some of our Ecclesiastical Governors to keep them in their Places that they made such offers of Peace and Accommodation as none could refuse but sullen and desperate Incendiaries nor was there any thing required of them but what the most rigid Presbyterians might comply with if their Zeal to support their Faction had not infatuated them as much against the Vow of Baptism as against the common Peace and Safety of their Country The Presbyterians in Scotland are generally blinded with this fatal prejudice an Evidence of their incurable Enthusiasm they think that no man can act any thing against the Presbyterians but he immediately acts against the light of his own Conscience They take it for granted that their way is the only true Religion that it is plainly revealed and that they give greater Evidences of Piety and Religion than any other Society of Christians upon Earth and if you do not believe this presently without Examination you are far from the Kingdom of God Nay you are alienated from the life of God Hence it is that the Presbyterians conclude that whatever is done against their Party is done rather against the Light and Conviction of their Enemies than the petulance and vanity of their own Fraternity therefore they insinuate upon all occasions that all Reasonings against them proceed from Prophanity and Atheism or from men void of all Principles and Religion You may as easily reason a Bedlamite out of his fancied Honors and Principalities as persuade any of their deluded Disciples that they may be in an Errour and this they owe to their cunning Teachers who tyrannize over their Belief as imperiously as the cruel Brach-mans do among the Indians But let me enquire in the next place calmly did the meek Covenanters when they got the ascendent in King Charles the First his time treat their Opposite with that gentleness and discretion that condescention and longanimity that became the true Gospel of our Saviour But so very far from this temper that they prosecuted the Malignants with all Rage and Cruelty And if there were not another instance of their Cruelty but the Sufferings of the excellent Bishop Wishart men might easily penetrate into the Genius and Spirit of the Party Then their Pulpits thundered against the Malignants all the Curses in the Bible and all were Malignants in their Dialect that were not Presbyterians Add to this the universal and restless endeavours of their Ministers to ruin the Persons Estates and Families of all that opposed their Designs and their Discipline was made an Engine to pry into the greatest Secrets of Families and the Presbyterian Chaplain who was ordinarily the Ministers Intelligencer complained in his Prayers of what he thought amiss in the Family or Neighbourhood nay the Soundest part of the Nation groaned under this Tyrannical Pedantry as the Israelites did under the Egyptians when their bloody Scaffolds stood erected for some whole weeks together Then it was that their modest Ministers said that their Cause was like to prosper when they justified one Crime by the Commission of another and the whole Scheme of their Arbitrary Tyranny from their Success and Prosperity when their Turkish Argument of Force and Arms ran down the Doctrines of our Meek and Crucified Saviour And now forsooth they must tell us that the Episcopal Clergy were rigid and peevish and severe to their Parishioners when perhaps they did not represent to the Judges in their several bounds the tenth part of those Crimes that were committed against the Church and State and yet the Law did oblige them to give up the names of Recusants And do not we see that the Presbyterians since the late Revolution have out done the diligence of all men against the Clergy and Laity of the Episcopal persuasion for the whole Faction applyed their utmost force since the Revolution to ruin her Neighbours and possess themselves of all their Places Civil Military and Ecclesiastical The truth is there are no people upon Earth that value Government and Sovereignty as the Presbyterians do It is the Idol they bow to there is nothing gratifies their highest Passions so much as a power to tyrannize If the whole world were once under their Feet they would look chearful their Blood would Circulate more briskly untill this be obtained there is no rest nor peace for mankind The Discipline the Sacred Discipline of Geneve must wrestle with all Authority until the Consumation of all things But if the former excuse did not serve his Design yet it is often insinuated all a long his Book that most of the Clergy were wicked men But let me suppose the truth of this infamous accusation who made them Judges of the Scandalous Clergy Whose Delegats were they in the Execution of this Punishment I have told you before that I am acquainted with very few of the Clergy of the Western Shires but I am informed by judicious and intelligent Men that generally the Clergy in those Shires were Grave Sober and Assiduous in the work of the Ministry That most of them endeavoured upon all occasions to gain those Enthusiasts from their Schism and Delusion and were very successful in this Christian design if a new Indulgence after the Defeat at Bothwel Bridge had not buoyed up their Interest As for the scandalous Aspersions cast upon the Clergy by the Western Presbyterians it is certain that by one of the Vindicators own Rules we ought not to believe them because they are all of them of a Party and indeed of such a Party who from their first appearance in the World placed much of their strength in reproaching the Clergy If some of the Ministers in the West did not live according to the Dignity of their Character we ought rather all of us who have not renounced our Baptism to lament it rather than insult and upbraid them with it Indeed a Minister whose Employment is to fit other men for Eternal Life and yet lives in open and scandalous opposition to his Rule is the most monstrous thing in Nature All the Satyrical Writings of the Poets and all the Invectives of Orators cannot furnish one word to give a true Idea of that loathsome Creature But
Opinions in a factious manner and not at all enclined to change the Pulpit into a Metaphysical Chair I think it is no disparagement to either of the Parties to say that every one of them cannot state such controversial differences fairly and reason about them closely nor is it necessary for every Country Minister to read Alvarez and Dr. Tuisse Arminius and Episcopius Those questions have been debated in all Ages of the Church and if we understand so little of our selves of our own soul and its union with the body the method and manner of its operations How daring a thing is it to pretend to grâ—sp the infinite Mind that made Heaven and Earth and to methodize the Acts of that eternal Intellect in whom we live move and have our Being To read some of the School men is enough to make a modest man tremble when he considers that the incomprehensible Deity is thought to be fettered by the Laws Methods and confused Notions of our Mind this is learned Ignorance and the Presbyterians may think they wonderfully reform the World when they oblige Ministers to Swear their Systems of Metaphysicks It were infinitely better to leave them to their Liberty in things that are disputable in their Nature and past finding out after all our Endeavours Upon the whole matter the Objections against the Clergy from the Doctrine they Preach is vain and trifling and serves no other Design than to fill the Mouths of the People with words that they do not understand and yet have a mischievous influence upon their lives Another Topick by which he endeavours to provoke the present Powers against the Episcopal Clergy is that they are Enemies to King William and Queen Mary I have no Commission to give an account of particular mens Opinions in the Controversie that is now debated in Britain but I may observe that the Vindicator puts a mean Complement upon King William to tell the World in Print that the Interest of King William and that of the Presbyterians is embarqued together i. e. If King William does not punctually observe the Original Contract they know well enough what they owe all earthly Kings Again he tells us that such of the Episcopal Clergy as addressed to King William and Queen Mary never thought of any such Address until they had lost all hopes of King James and by this he thinks to disparage the Episcopal Clergy wonderfully whereas the Argument rightly turn'd is to their Advantage That they never treacherously betrayed King James when they were publickly Praying for him nor did they secretly undermine his Government when they were giving publick thanks for his Administrations as the Presbyterians did and such of the Episcopal Clergy as came over to King William ought to be treated with Civility and Protection at least if it were no more but that their Principles of Government are more agreeable to Reason and more favourable to Monarchy in General and the Common Peace of Mankind I know no Notion the Presbyterians can have of a King but that he should be Arch-Bedle to the Kirk and that he ought to employ his Power and Authority to execute their Decrees The Vindicator remembers no doubt the Act of the West Kirk A Specimen of Presbyterian Loyalty to K. Willian and Q. Mary we have lately from the Provost of Rutherglin who publickly owned that they would indeed Arm so many Forces and not Disband them until K. William had Established Presbytery to their mind and if he did not so settle it they would turn him out and use him as they did K. Charles the First But if the Episcopal Clergy in the West of Scotland are enemies to the present Government they are obliged to continue in that opposition by the Vindicators Principles so unfortunate is he in his Endeavours to serve the present Government For if the Clergy in those Shires never met with any thing but Acts of Hostility without any Law Tryal or so much as any the least Formality of Justice pray let the Vindicator tell me what Allegiance do they owe upon such Principles as he and his Associates were wont to propagate under the Reign of K. Charles the Second And therefore he himself not others deserves to have his Neck stretched for adhereing to such Principles as necessarily overthrow in their last consequence all Government and Order Another Topick upon which he and others found many of their Libels against the Clergy is that they were subservient in the late Reigns to advance Arbitrary Power by their Doctrine of Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience The Episcopal Clergy Preached no Doctrine but the true Christian Doctrine which can never be overthrown by all the Attempts of their Adversaries they Preached indeed that in every Government there was a Supreme Legal Tribunal from whose Decisions there lay no Appeal upon Earth That this Supreme Tribunal was not at all to be resisted and therefore that the Insurrections in the Western Shires against the King Parliament and Laws was Rebellion in its most rigorous Notion this indeed they did Preach and I hope they are not yet so degenerate as to think or Preach otherwise as for the other Branch of the Controversie whether the King of Scots may be resisted I will tell the Vindicator my Opinion when he and I stands upon a Level For where the Supreme Tribunal may be resisted and counter acted then there is something higher than what is already granted to be Supreme but the King and Parliament are with us Supreme and if they may be resisted what is it that may not be resisted If Sentences interfere there can be no Government because no final Decision of Controversies therefore there can be no Appeal from the Supreme Tribunal in any Nation and into whatever Figure the Government is molded some such Supreme Independent Tribunal must be acknowledged whence there is no Appeal and of which there is no resisting unless you so order your Government as to have one part of it fight perpetually against the other and in that case our Saviour tells us That a House divided against it self cannot stand And do the Presbyterians think to recommend themselves by asserting such Doctrines as necessarily overthrow all Government And Blowes up the Foundations of all Humane Society We have all the Governments in the World to defend us upon this Head for without this necessary truth no Notion can be formed of what is Law Government or Society do not we see every day such as opposed the Government any where Fined Confined or Executed And this carries with it the Unanimous Sentence of all Judges upon Earth declaring that the Government is not to be Resisted in its first and Supreme Authority neither ought the Secrets of Government to be so prophaned as to be laid open to the Censure and Objections of every petulant Medler It is not our business who live in private Stations to Canvass the Mysteries of State
God ordinarily gives to such as are at the Helm of Government another Spirit than that he bestowes upon private men their care must extend far and near we must not upon all occasions publish our Comments upon their actions far less ought we to fly to Arms when our Caprice is not satisfied nor when the Dreams and Delusims of our particular Sect are discouraged For If men may run to Arms upon every occasion the Political World should quickly tumble into the Original Chaos Whatever Parties then there are that oppose the Doctrine of Non-Resistance thus stated are Enemies to all Government and when they themselves are invested with Power and Authority their Practice bâ—â—â—â—â—â— their former Notions and exposes sufficiently their Chimerical Ideas and whatever branches there may be of this Controversie it must be agreed to on all hands that the Scots Presbyterians were Rebels under Charles I. and Charles II. in all the Formalities of Rebellion The Vindicator himself thinks that the Authority of the Nation in the Convention or Parliament may take away the Legal Right that belongs to the Clergy Had not the Clergy as good right to their by-past Stipends as any man had to his private Estate So it seems that in some cases the Convention may invade the Property of private men especially the Property of the Episcopal Clergy and this is no other stretch of Arbitrary Power than what was practised formerly against the Lieges in the warmest weather of the Covenant when private men were compelled to lend their mony to Levy an Army against the King yet since it was to advance the Covenant there was nothing Arbitrary in it and though it was open Robbery and never practised by any of our Kings yet we were forced to stoop to Ruin and Poverty because the Covenanters said that this was our Liberty and Property So they that clamour most against Arbitrary Power practise it most when they dare venture Another Imputation whereby the Presbyterians endeavour to fully the Reputation of the Episcopal Clergy is this that the kindness that any have for Episcopacy proceeds from the Espiscopal Clergy's indulging men in their sins and immoralities And this is the old story and contains nothing but their inveterate spite and malice What is it that the Episcopal Church teaches that indulges men in their sins What Doctrine is it that 's publickly owned or taught by the Episcopal Church that has the least tendency to the breach of any of Gods Commandments How long shall these Sons of Strife continue in their Impudence Though this Accusation be as senseless as it is indesinite yet upon this occasion they ordinarily magnifie their discipline as the most Sovereign Remedy against the immoralities of the Age much after the same manner that Montebanks do when they set off their Drugs with vehement and zealous Harrangues and if you have the patience for a quarter of an hour you 'll hear all that they can say Whereas a grave experienced Physitian will make no such promises but he 'll calmly consider the present temper of your Body the Causes of your Disease and proportion his Applications to your strength and other Circumstances without noise or Ostentation I know no effect that ever the Presbyterian Discipline had towards Reforming the World unless you reckon that the murthering of Bastard Children was of that Nature It cannot be denyed but that the Presbyterian Ministers use long Discourses to the Whores that sit on the Stool of Repentance but they cannot name three of them that ever mounted that Publick Seat but they became Prostitutes and when once they made Shipwrack of their Modesty one may guess what followed And their publick appearance in this manner made them impudent This is all the Reformation I know that their Discipline most eminently promotes its true indeed there was a very remakable Step towards the Reformation made by Sir John Hall and his Associates the first year of the Revolution when the Wells were locked up and none could have fresh Water upon Sunday yet as much Wine and Brandy was allowed as one was pleased to call for But if by their Discipline they mean that endless and pragmatick inquisition into all Actions it is as impracticable as it is burthensome and though it be a natural step to advance their Supremacy yet it is attended with so much confusion and animosities that neither true Religion nor Liberty can endure it It is pleasant to hear them declaim against the Tyranny of Papal Power and yet meddle with all that ever he medled with We know what Profanations of the Name of God were occasioned by this Discipline in the year 1648. when the best of the Nobility and Gentry and others were made to profess their Repentance for the Lawful Engagement I do not plead against Ecclesiastical Discipline for it is absolutely necessary to the order and Preservation of the Church as it is a Society founded by our Lord and Saviour But this new fantastick and apish imitation of strictness is inconsistent with reason as it is indeed destructive to true and regular Devotion The Vindicator uses to refer his Readers to other Books I cannot condemn that practise therefore I wish him to Read Bishop Bramhall's Treatise of the new Discipline There is nothing more desireable than to see the Antient Discipline revived and all men ought to Pray that God would direct our Ecclesiastical Governours to restore the Primitive Discipline so as the most negligent may be awakened directed and encouraged to repent and testifie his Repentance by the most unfeigned mortification and Charity Thus I have run over some of the General Heads that are scattered up and down his Vindication and given you freely but very briefly my Opinion of them The next thing I undertook for your satisfaction was to enquire into the Spirit and Genius of the Author by the Characters that appear of him in his Vindication Not that I conclude him habitually such for perhaps the paroxysms of his Indignation are over but this I may conclude that when this Book was written he was overdriven with his passion I do not immediately conclude him to be of the Seed of the Serpent nor of the Race of Esau nor a Villain nor the Successor of Judas Iscariot nor a Rabshakeh Though he opposes the Apostolical Government of Episcopacy he is not of my Opinion but I do not think he deserves any Censure on that account that he is not of my Persuasion His Adversaries cannot drive him to a greater absurdity than if he be made to vent his Passion in personal Reflections and therefore I shall endeavour to six nothing upon his person but what naturally follows from his own words I charge him therefore in the first place with open and avowed Partiality He rejects the Testimony of any man that is not of his Party so he rejects the Testimony of John Gibson one of the Magistrates of Glasgow because says he
it is from that Manuscript that I copy the following Account for it is apparent that the Church was never governed by a Parity of Officers but by different Orders from the beginning of the Reformation And in the entry to this Narration Let us remark says my Author That none of our Martyrs did ever impugn or oppose imparity in the Church or preach or write against it you cannot name one Testimony unless you argue from their preaching against Popish Tyranny and unwarrantable exercise of Ecclesiastical Power to infer that they were for the then unheard of Parity and all who write of those Martyrs and first Reformers omit not to praise them for their dutiful submission to their Bishops and Superiours And it is very probable these Martyrs would have pseached against Ecclesiastical Tyranny as well in a Company of Arbitrary Presbyters as they did when it was lodged in one or few and that Presbyters may be Tyrants witness the Scots History from the year 1639 to 1652. At which time Cromwel tho no Friend to Episcopacy was so wearied with the Insolencies and Confusions of Presbytery that he dismist it solemnly at Barrow-Moor Let us now come to positive Evidences The very first established Reformation in Scotland was that which on the 6th of July 1560 being the third day after the pacification at Leith was concluded on betwixt the Lords and Ministers of the Congregation assisted by the Queen of Englands General and Ambassader on the one side And the Queen Regent the popish Lords and Clergy assisted by the French Ambassador on the other side in name of Francis and Mary their Sovrreigns The Protestant Lords and Clergy did meet at Edenburgh the Protestants preached in the Churches and in their Assembly they did distribute their Preachers among the Chief Towns of the Nation and did nominate five Superintendents for the Dioceses where the Bishops were popish For there are no Superintendents named then for Galloway and Argile because the Bishops of those Dioceses were Protestants By the said Treaty a Parliament was to hold in August following wherein the Confession of Faith drawn up by the Superintendents was given in to the Lords of the Articles prepared by them and Voted in Parliament where it was carried in the Affirmative In this Parliament the Bishops did sit as the first Estate The popish Bishops voted against the Confession the Protestant Bishops viz. Galloway and Argile and three Abbots voted for it The Sederunt of this Parliament is on Record with its Acts and related by Spotswood pag. 149. In January thereafter the Scottish Protestant Clergy offer a form of Church Policy one of its Heads is for Superintendents whom they name and appoint with distinct Dioceses for them and to shew that these Reformers did not treat of Superintendents as a temporary Resolution for that time only It is there said that the Election of Superintendents in aftertimes should be stricter than the present circumstances would allow and the last Head of that Policy prescribes some Conditions to be kept in future Elections of Superintendents Spotwood pag. 150 and 160 and by the book of Policy pag. 168. it is expresly ordered that Complaints against Ministers be notified to the Superintendents And the Petition presented to the Queen related by Knox Hist pag. 337. bears as the superscription of the Superintendents Ministers of the whole Church of Scotland to the Queens Majesty c. And in the year 1563. John Knox and others elected a Superintendent for Dumfries and the Letter written from the Assembly or Convention of the Scots Church at Edenburgh on the 27. of December 1566. to the Church of England bears this Superscription The Superintendents Ministers and Commissioners of the Church within the Realm of Scotland to their Brethren the Bishops and Pastors of England And at Queen Mary's first arrival in Scotland from France the Superintendents and Ministers did meet at Edenburgh in an Assembly Knox bist pag. 318. In January 1572. the Commission of the Assembly did meet at Leith under the Regents Government and did agree on seven Articles of Policy 1. That all Bishopricks which were vacant and those were only four for where popish Bishops were alive the See's were not esteemed vacant but supplied by Protestant Superintendents should be filled out of the ablest of the Ministry Secondly That spiritual Jurisdiction should be exercis'd by Bishops in their Dioceses and the sixth Article is that Ministers should receive Ordination from the Bishops and in Dioceses where no Bishops were they should receive Ordination from the Superintendents And in August thereafter the General Assembly of the Church did meet at Perth and approved of all these Articles and accordingly Mr. John Douglas Mr. James Bâ—yd Mr. James Paton and Mr. Andrew Graham were plac'd in the four vacant Bishopricks It was Mr. Andrew Melvil's misfortune that he was neglected and therefore in the year 1575. he stirr'd up one Mr. Dury to impugne the Episcopal Order and all Imparity This is the first time that this debate was toss'd in our Church and on it Church and State immediately divided and much Confusion Rapine Blood and other mischiefs did follow and then and since every firy Faction did lay hold on this Schism as a fund whereon to build all Rebellion and Treason In prosecution of this Schism Mr. Andrew and some Ministers led by him did in the year 1578. draw a Book of Policy stuffed so with the spirit of Mr. Andrew himself that it was rather a Proposal for the overthrow of all just Authority than an Establishment of a Religious Government and therefore it could never no not in these distracted furious times even when there was no King in our Israel obtain approbation from any Authority but was look'd on as a Rapsody of groundless Assertions and full of mischievous Novelties Indeed in the year 1580. an Assembly met at Dundee called by Mr. Andrew and his Associates without a shadow of any permission from the Civil Authority and they declared that the Office of a Bishop but with this restriction as it was then used had neither foundation nor warrant in the Word of God But let all serious Christians consider whether they will believe this famous Conventicle or the plain Scriptures the Doctrine of the Apostles the primitive Fathers and the Canons of all Oecomenick Counsels and the rule of Apostolick and primitive Practice and to help their choice let them take notice of the pious Design of this Assembly in casting off Bishops by the very next clause in their Act viz. That their next Assembly should consider how to dispose of the Patrimony and possessions of Bishops This was the primitive Invasion of the Kings Patronages and Regale of the Crown Then Presbyterian Disciples began to propagate their new Gospel very zealously The first was one Montgomery who at Sterling proposed that all such as spoke for the Order of Bishops should be censured but this zealous Saint did most basely
and simoniacally shortly thereafter bargain with a Nobleman that he might be made Bishop of Glasgow and then his Co-Presbyters who themselves were not so successful handled him to purpose but with such indiscretion that in pursuing him they trampled on the King and all the Civil Authority in so far that when they were called to answer for illegal Invasions on the Kings Authority they did boldly protest that tho they compeared in civility to the King yet that they did not acknowledge the King 〈◊〉 Councils Right in any Ecclesiastick matter This was on the 12th of April 1582. And shortly thereafter in one of their Assemblies holden at St. Andrews Mr. Andrew Melvil told the Master of Requests who was sent by the King to stop some of their illegal procedures that they did not meddle in Civil matters but in Ecclesiastick matters they had sufficient Authority to proceed and did so The practice on these grounds did shortly follow for on the 23d of August 1582. the King was made Prisoner by a Faction of Lords at the house of Ruthwen and on the 13th of October 1582. the Assembly of the Church at Edenburg did by an Act approve of that perduellion and declared that it was good service to God and his Chucrh And in the beginning of January 1583. two Ambassadors came from France and one from England to endeavour the Kings Liberty the Assembly ordered the Ministers to declaim against the impious Design of liberating the King and they did rail at the Ambassadors by name and stirred up the Rabble their faithful Confederates on all occasions not to suffer the Badge of the French Order to be seen on their Streets it being the mark of the Beast a badge of Antichrist and to shew their good Manners as well as their sound Doctrine the King having appointed the Magistrates of Edenburgh to entertain the Ambassadors on the 16th of February 1583. The Ministers appointed a solemn Fast on that very day and civilly preached from morning till night a matter of no great difficulty to such as preach for such ends and with so little rule cursing the Magistrates and their Company and were with difficulty kept from excommunicating them The King having delivered himself from his restraint Mr. Dury and others of the Ministry openly assert that there was no injury done to the King and Mr. Melvil declaimed frequently against the King for which he was called before the Council but he boldly declined the King and Council as Judges in prima Instantia of what 's preached in the Pulpit even tho it were high Treason and so he fled to England from whence he kindled that Conspiracy which shortly thereafter brought the Earl of Gowry and others to the Scaffold These seditious doctrines and practices moved the whole Estates of the Kingdom in the year 1584 on the 22d day of May in a Parliament at Edenburgh by a solemn Act to assert the Kings Sovereign Power over all persons and in all causes as his undoubted ancient Right and that it was Treason to decline his Authority in any matter and discharging all Assemblies Convocations and all Jurisdictions spiritual or temporal not allowed by the King and Estates and prohibiting all factions and seditious Preachings Sermons and all slanderous Speeches against the King The Ministers declaimed against this and reproached this Act of Parliament Notwithstanding of all this the King was prevail'd with to allow Mr. Melvil and his Complices to return to their Churches but no sooner had they this favour than Mr. Andrew calls an Assembly to St. Andrews it consisted of Presbyters and Laicks and one Mr. Robert Wilky a Regent Professour and Laick was chosen Moderator There in a most ridiculous manner they Cite the Archbishop of St. Andrews on twenty four hours to Compear before them and he not compearing they caused a young indiscreet Fellow called Hunter to Excommunicate him for having accession to that Act of Parliament lately mentioned he being a Member of Parliament and an Assembly meeting this very year at Edenburgh would have taken up this difference and in order thereto did Absolve the Archbishop from Excommunication yet Mr. Andrew and his adherents protested against the Assembly and declared that notwithstanding of their Absolution yet the Archbishop should be still esteemed as one delivered to Sathan until signs of true Repentance appeared And though upon all occasions they magnifie their Assemblies and their pretended parity yet when the far major number was against their humour they regarded not their plurality For in Anno 1591. when the Synod of St. Andrews had determined to constitute one Mr. Weems Minister at Leuchars Mr. Melvil and some few more viz. six were for one Mr. Walace and when the far major part would not submit to his Opinion though they pretend that the Kingdom of Christ is invaded when Bishops or Princes oppose the majority of a Synod yet Mr. Melvil and his six withdraw to another place and admitted Mr. Walace to the Ministry of Leuchars and the Synod did admit Mr. Weems But this had almost engaged the Parishioners in Blood and the scussle could not be ended until Melvil's Faction prevailed so far against the Synod that neither of the two should be Minister at that Church The Reason why I insist on this is to let them of a contrary Opinion see how justly our dislike of a parity in Church Offices is Founded and that there being no imaginable warrant for it from Scripture Apostolick Practice Primitive Fathers Councils or any well Established Christian Church and that the best plea for it seems to be the pretended parity that is alledged amongst the first Reformers in Scotland we judged it fit first to shew that there was an imparity then and always thereafter in this Church and that the design of parity was always rejected by our Kings Parliaments and the most and best of our Clergy and that the immoralities and Seditions of such as contended for parity gives us no invitation to be amongst their Successors It is true that the King in the year 1590. and 1591. and 1592. was so often brought into danger twice was he Captive and constantly in great trouble by the Seditions of Mr. Andrew Melvil and his firy complices that in the year 1592. he did consent to grant a great deal of Jurisdiction to Presbyteries Synods and General Assemblies by Act of Parliament and this of necessity to evite a threatned Rebellion and that by the advice of Chancellor Maitland who in Council advised the King to give them much of their will for that 〈◊〉 the short way to make them odious as already they were troubleseme to the Nation and then they would be turned out by all Yet there was never an Act or motion of Abolishing Episcopacy but on the contrary they continued in their Dioceses and Churches always thereafter and in the very year 1594. Cunnigham Bishop of Aberdeen did Babtize Prince Henry at Sterling but the King was forced
to connive a while at at their Insolence for they had preached the People into a persuasion that the King was to betray his own Crown and Kingdoms to the King of Spain And when three Noblemen were brought to Tryal before the Justice the Ministers would needs order the Process in October 1593 and to back them they stirred up multitudes of the Rabble to Arms thereby to force Justice to decide in their favour nor would they disband or abstain from coming before the Judges in armed Crowds although the King and Council did by Proclamation prohibit them If this be Presbyterian Government it must be confessed that Anno 1590 1591 1592 and 1593. Presbyters had it solely But all this time Bishops did exist by Law enjoyed their Rents and preached in their Churches if you trust not us Notice the most Authentic Records of the Kingdom By Act of Parliament 1. Jac. 6. Chap. 7. Ministers are ordered to be presented by the Patrons to the Superintendent of the Diocese Note At this time most of the Bishops were Popish which occasioned the Protestants to appoint Superintendents Anno 1572. Parl. 3. Jac. 6. Chap 45. The Government of the Church is declared to be in the Archbishops Bishops and Superintendents Note Both Bishops and Superintendents are contemporary then in the Church The like owned Chap. 46. 48. and 54. of that Parliament In the year 1573. The Authority of the Bishops is owned by the first Act of the 4. Par. Jac. 6. In the year 1578. the like by Act. 63. Parl. 5. Jac. 6. In the year 1579. the like by Act. 71. Parliam 6. Jac. 6. In the year 1581. That the Bishops did continue in the Church appears from Act 100. Parl. 7. Jac. 6. The like appears from the Acts 106 and 114 of that Parliament In the year 1584. The Bishops Authority fully owned Act. 132. Parl. 8. Jac. 6 In the year 1587. It appears that Prelacy existed then by Act 28. Parl. 11. Jac. 6. Also in that 11. Parl. It appears by the Act of Annexation that Prelacy did still exist by Law even although their Temporalties were annexed to the Crown and by the 111. Act of that 11. Parl. In the year 1591 1592 1593 and 1594. The King and Bishops could not stop the Insolence of Presbyters nor their meeting in Synods and Assemblies without any interposition of the Royal Authority but this hindered not but that the Bishops did still exist by Law and exerced some part of their Office and in all Parliaments and Conventions of Estates the Prelates did did always Sit and Vote as the first of the three Estates as the Records and Sederunts of all the Parliaments will prove In the year 1596. Leslie Bishop of Ross dying at Brussels Mr. David Lindsey was presented by the King to the Bishoprick the very next year In the year 1598. there was a Conference appointed at Falkland betwixt the Commissioners of the Assembly and some appointed by the King to meet with them where they agreed on ten Articles or Propositions of Policy for the Church relating chiefly to the Clergy's Votes in Parliament and the Elections of Bishops in the Dioceses some of these Propositions were foolish but it was thought convenient that the King should comply with those Hot Heads in some things for at that time Severals began to debate his Right of Succession to the Crown of England and so he would have all quiet at Home yet still this is evident that Bishops did then exist by Law and that altho something concerning them was debated yet their Office and Order was not In the year 1600 these forementioned Articles were appoved in the Assembly at Monross March 28 1600. and to that Assembly Mr. Dury who was the chief Tool with Mr. Melvil for parity at his death did write an Exhortation disowning his former Errors and earnestly advising them to submit to the ancient Order and to chuse good Bishops of the best of the Ministers In the year 1601. the King called an Assembly of the Church to meet at Brunt Island where many good things were Enacted both for the true Liberty of the Church and for reclaiming the Popish Nobility from their Errors which proved more effectual and pacific than all the former furious Methods which at that time were promoted by a Hot Headed Man called Davidson who by a Letter to the Assembly incited them to declare against the Kings Hypocrisie and other Errors The Assembly would have proceeded to Censure him but the King would not allow it saying it was matter of Joy that these Hot Heads were reduced to one or some few In the year 1602. the King in an Assembly at Halyrood-House did shew great Clemency to some firy Ministers whom the Assembly would have Censured as also he gave great Satisfaction to the whole Assembly and Nation by his excellent Proposals for establishing Provisions both for Bishops and Presbyters And in this Assembly of the Church was the fifth of August appointed an Anniversary Thanksgiving for the Kings Delivery from Gowry's Conspiracy Before the Diet appointed for the next General Assembly the Crown of England did fall to the King by the Death of Queen Elizabeth so there was no meeting of Church General Assemblies for a while but the few remaining Hot Headed Presbyters were very busie on the Kings removal so far and fearing the excellent Order of the English Church the great Safety and Peace of Britain depending on an intire and full Concord of the Island they were apprehensive that upon such Considerations the King would heartily promote a further Establishment of Episcopal Jurisdiction in Scotland The Presbyterians in this Juncture did busily stir up Prejudices in the People against the Church of England tho undoubtedly the best Reformed Church and greatest Bulwark against Popery And though the King for good Reasons when he went to England Adjourned the General Assembly from July 1604 to July 1605. yet these Men prevailed with Nine of the Fifty Presbyteries of Scotland to keep the Meeting notwithstanding of the Kings Prorogation where Thirteen Persons meeting did most Seditiously run into such Declarations against the Statutes and standing Laws as were by the Judicatures declared Treason and for which Severals of the Thirteen were Condemned before the Justices For they could not be persuaded either to acknowledge or revoke their seditious Pasquils but they were afterwards pardoned by the King when they confessed that the Chancellour encouraged their Meeting in July 1604. and proved it which forced the Chancellour to prove likewise that they promised to connive at his being a Papist and his Possession of what he had of the Church Lands upon Condition he should own them against Episcopacy whereupon the King said that the Presbyterians would betray the Protestant Religion in hatred to Episcopacy and the Chancellour would betray Episcopacy for greed of their Temporalties So far my Author And now from all this I infer that the first Reformers of our Religion in
Scotland declaimed against the Tyranny and incroachments of the Bishop of Rome but never against the Episcopal Jurisdiction as such That Mr. Wisehart and some others of our most Eminent Reformers and Martyrs knew no other Government of the Church but Episcopacy The first being bred in the University of Cambridge and others who were his Disciples followed his Sentiments And that the first Reformers submitted to the Episcopal Jurisdiction of such of the Bishops as Preached and promoted the Protestant Doctrine Secondly That though the Episcopal Authority was frequently weakned crushed and interrupted by the Popular Insurrections and Conspiracies of Mr. Melvil's Faction yet it was never legally abolished but rather continued in the Church secured and defended by many Laws ☞ Thirdly That the Presbyterians always watched the difficult Postures of the King's Affairs and whenever they found him at a disadvantage then they made him much more uneasie by Popular Tumults and Insurrections Fourthly That the Romish Clergy never pleaded their Exemptions from the Secular Powers more violently and factiously than the Melvilian Tribe in Scotland Fifthly That Episcopacy was not Abolished in that very year wherein they pretend that Presbytery was Established but that Episcopacy in Anno 1592. was still retained in all its legal Rights Privileges and Authority It is true that the Insolence of Presbyters was not then to be resisted but by granting them great Liberties and that this Liberty was granted by the necessitous Circumstances that the King was in Sixthly That the most violent of their Faction had not then the Impudence to quarrel the Superiority of a Bishop above a Presbyter as a thing unlawful in it self but that Mr. Melvil made his approaches to the ruin of Episcopacy by plausible pretences viz. That it was abused and that it was not exercised according to its primitive designs and simplicity Seventhly I observe that Episcopacy was never legally Abolished in Scotland until the Tragical Rebellion in King Charles the First his Reign broke forth and we need not inform the World how unwilling King Charles the Martyr was to Abolish Episcopacy Eighthly That the Royal Authority never gave way to their Rebellion and Insolence when they could hinder it but sometimes they were forced to yield to grant them great Liberties to avoid the heavier Blows and Thunder Claps of their Fury Ninthly That we can have no better Evidence for any Matter of Fact than the Publick Records of Parliament Tenthly We may clearly discern that the Vindicators Book in defence of his Party is one Hypocritical Shuffle from top to bottom For if Mr. Melvil the Founder of Presbytery and his Confederates did affront the Kings Person and declined his Authority and provoked the Rabble and Excommunicated the Archbishop and was so rude to the Ambassadors of Foreign Princes and profanely appointed a Fast with no other design than to bassle the King to his Teeth Then let me ask the Vindicator why all this Apology to persuade the World that Presbyterians are not capable of such Villanies as is the Rabbling of the Clergy Nay I must tell him Presbyterians did nothing upon this last Revolution but what they Practised when they had not such opportunities to to vent their Malice And by this unquestionable History he and all others may see to how little purpose his Distinction of sober Presbyterians and Cameronians will serve him for the Cameronians have no Principles different from Presbyterians nor the Presbyterians from Cameronians nor is it possible to resute the Cameronians by Presbyterian Principles Eleventhly We may gather from the preceeding History and the constant Practice of Presbyterians that they have no Principles of Unity amongst themselves for the lesser number if more Popular than their Brethren may remonstrate with that Insolence and Fury against the plurality as to stop the whole course of Discipline as in the forementioned case of Mr. Andrew Melvil Twelsthly The Spirit of Presbytery is a Spirit of Tyranny and cannot endure to Obey and therefore such as are fully Poisoned with its Principles whenever the Decisions of the Publick contradict their own peculiar Plan and Scheme they immediately fly in the Face of that Authority they formerly pretended to support and by general words which at the bottom have no particular signification but what they please to put upon them they pick quarrels and exceptions against all their own Judicatures Governments Civil and Ecclesiastical This is visible as from many instances so from the famous Protestations of several biggorted Incendiaries against the General Assembly of the Presbyterians Anno 1651. because that General Assembly did promote the Publick Resolutions in order to the Restoring the King to the Exercise of his Government they pretend that the General Assembly was not rightly constituted that the generality of the Godly did adhere to the Protestors that the Publick Resolutioners had made defection because they were for bringing again into Places of Power and Trust such as would probably serve the King against the Rebellion then on Foot upon such pretences they decline their Supreme National Judicatory and because that Print is known but to very few of the present Generation and since it is a Monument of their Villany and Stubbornness it may be seen at the end of this Letter I have no more to add but that I wish my Skill to serve you were equal to my Zeal and Affection for I am in all sincerity Your most obedient Servant The Protestation of divers Ministers against the Proceedings of the late Commission of the Church of Scotland as also against the lawfulness of the present pretended Assembly Right Reverend HOW gracious God hath been to the Church of Scotland in giving her pure Ordinances we trust that while we live it shall be acknowledged with thanfulness by us unto the Most High of whom we desire Mercy and Grace to adhere unto the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government Established in this Land amongst the many sad Tokens of the Lords Indignation and Wrath against this Kirk the present Difference of his Servants in the Ministry is looked upon by us and we believe by all the godly in the Land as one of the greatest And as we hold it a Duty deeply to be humbled before the Lord in the Sense thereof and by all lawful and fair means within the compass of our power and station to endeavour the remedy so we do acknowledge a free General Assembly lawfully Called and rightly Constituted and proceeding with Meekness and Love in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Rule of the Word and the Acts and Constitutions of this Kirk to be amongst the first and most effectual means appointed of God for obtaining the same and for preserving Purity and advancing the power of the Work of Reformation in this Age and transmitting the same unspotted to our Posterity and to the Ages and Generations that are to come but that as the faithful Servants of Jesus Christ in his Church in